Alternate iGoodbye
by seddie4thewin
Summary: My one shot take on what might have happened if Sam had actually caught Freddie and Carly's kiss in iGoodbye. May not be truly canon to the series, but it's just a thought that came to me.


**I know the dialogue and events may differ from the actual episode. This is just my version of it. iCarly and the characters belong to Dan Schneider/Nickelodeon.**

It was the day Carly was to leave for Italy. The final episode of iCarly was done and the three teens were busy trying to forget that soon they would be separated for the first time in years. Carly had packed most of her things and was thinking of how to say goodbye to her friends. Freddie was busy packing up his tech equipment in the studio. At Sam's suggestion, the two girls made their way downstairs to the kitchen so the blonde could find food.

"Carls, I want to ask you something." Sam said as she stuffed her mouth with a slice of cold pizza.

"Ask away." Carly replied, pouring herself a glass of lemonade.

"What would you say if I told you I was thinking of getting back together with Frednerd?"

"I'd say it's about time." Carly said with a smirk, taking a sip from her glass.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked, shoving the rest of the slice in her mouth.

"Well, it's obvious the two of you have been miserable since the day you broke up. Why can't you see that you're made for each other and just be happy." Carly reasoned.

"It's not that simple, Carls." Sam said with a hint of sadness in her voice after she swallowed.

"Why not?" The brunette asked.

"What if it doesn't work out? I'm still not normal and Freddie's not abnormal yet, so why would things be any different than they were the first time we were together. It was hard the first time we went out and broke up, and I had you for an anchor. If we can't make it work this time, I don't know what I'd do. I mean, I don't know if I could take that much hurt again, especially if I don't have anyone to talk to."

"Sam. Listen to me. You can't go through life afraid of the what if's and the how about's, just do what it takes to make yourself happy now. Besides, you're both more mature and if you ask me you're just simply meant to be together."

"But, I really love him, I think I always did. What if he realizes I was just his second prize when he couldn't have you and then he decides to look for someone better." Sam was doing her best to keep from breaking down, but she could feel a tear running down her cheek. She had always been insecure about how Freddie acted around Carly and it was worse now that the two of them were no longer a couple and Freddie had again begun to act like he wanted to be with the dark haired girl. "College is coming and he'll surely meet all kinds of different people, and maybe one of them will make him happy, happier than I do."

"Freddie loves you, Sam. He only agreed to break up with you because he thought it's what you wanted." Carly said. "He's not going to go looking for anyone else, either. He's crazy about you and he doesn't want anyone else."

"Wha, really? How do you know?" The blonde inquired as she wiped at her eyes.

"Because he told me so." Carly replied. "After your breakup. The next day, he was over here, crying like a baby to me and Spencer. He's too proud to admit it and he might have even acted a bit harsh about the whole situation, but he was devastated, Sam. Sure, he put up a strong front in front of you, but it darn near killed him to leave you. And he may not show it all the time, but he's been miserable since and, honestly, so have you."

The two girls hugged and Carly headed upstairs to her room to continue packing. Sam left the apartment in search of more food. She had lifted a twenty dollar bill from Freddie's wallet earlier in the day and there was a huge pack of fat cakes with her name on them down at the corner store.

Carly began to think about what Sam said and whether she should possibly give Freddie a little push toward Sam. She hated to meddle, but then again, who was she to trifle with fate and these two were certainly meant to be together. She knew Sam was totally in love with Freddie, and he was totally in love with Sam, all she had to do was get them to admit it in front of each other. There wasn't much time before she left and she would have to work fast to get this set up.

A short while later, Freddie was nearly done packing his things and had already made one trip with his cart full of equipment to his own apartment. The young man had returned to the studio when Carly suddenly appeared, prepared to set her plan into action.

"I understand you and Sam are thinking about giving it another try." The perky brunette said.

"Um, yeah. I guess you and Sam talked, huh?" Freddie asked, looking at the ground, sort of embarrassed to be talking about this with a girl he had spent so many years lusting after, but finally realized he has no romantic interest in.

"Yeah we did. Freddie I want you to know, no matter what, you'll both always be my best friends. I mean, I love you Freddie, but like a brother, not romantically. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but I don't want you to pass on someone who truly loves you _like that _for the hope that someday we could happen." Carly said as she approached the young man, making him slightly uncomfortable. If he were holding back on pursuing a relationship with Sam for that reason, this would surely send him the right message.

Carly wasn't aware that Freddie had finally came to that conclusion on his own. "You know, I feel the same way. I love you too, but you're like the sister I never had. I know that there was a point where I would have jumped at the chance to be with you, but then I realized that I love Sam and breaking up with her was the worst mistake of my life." Freddie replied, looking down at the floor as Carly got ever so much closer and touched his forearm.

"You're a special friend, Freddie. I'm really going to miss you. I need you to take are of Sam OK, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble." Carly stated as she slowly kissed him and put her hands on his shoulders. For some reason, Freddie's hands found her waist and before he knew what he was doing he kissed back.

For a few seconds he felt like he had won the lottery. Why wouldn't he, it was a great kiss, no doubt. Two years ago, Freddie would have given anything for a kiss like that from Carly and he spent many sleepless nights fantasizing about such a kiss. But now it only finalized his feeling that there was absolutely no spark between them. The kiss, as good as it was, was nothing more than a very solid 'goodbye', serving as closure to this chapter of their young lives.

Unknown to the two teens standing in each others' embrace, their blonde friend was walking through the door just as their lips separated. It surely looked more passionate than it was from her point of view and there was no hesitation to the fury of a woman scorned, especially one whose fuse was as short as Sam's.

"FREDDIE! CARLY! WHAT THE HOLY LIVING HELL?" Sam shouted, slamming the bag containing her fat cakes to the floor.

"Uh, SAM! Um, this, uh, you um. . . " Freddie began to stutter and quickly took his hands off Carly.

"Save it nerd boy." Sam snapped. "How could you? Mr. 'I want to give us another try'."

"Oh, Sam. This isn't what it looks like." Carly tried to reason with her friend as she moved away from Freddie.

"Well then how about you tell me what it is then, Shay. Because to me it looks like my best friend who not an hour ago I poured my heart out to about how much I wanted to get back together with my ex-boyfriend who I'm hopelessly in love with and said ex-boyfriend standing there swapping spit. How could you Carly? I know you've always been boy crazy, but this is just being a complete skank."

"Now Sam that's not fair." Freddie said.

"Did I say you could speak, douche bag!" Sam screeched. "Of course you'd defend her, wouldn't you? You know what you two, go ahead, knock yourselves out. You deserve each other, you're both total stub rags. I can't believe I was thinking of getting back together with you Freddie, you're nothing but a jerk. I guess should have known, I'll never be anything more than a consolation prize compared to little miss perfect here."

Before the tears fell Sam had one more thing to say. "You wanna know the worst part, he's the one boy I ever loved. Why the hell couldn't you just let me have him. I mean, for Christ's sake you're leaving the country, Carls. You'll be all hot and bothered after some Italian stud by this time next week and who will I have? Certainly not him if he's pining away after you while you're off chasing every guy in Italy and tramping it up!"

Sam's tears were welling up and she wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her break. As Sam turned to leave the room, she ran straight into Gibby who had come back to the studio in search of his replica head.

"Out of the way, wazzbag." Sam shouted as she shoved into the large framed boy but was unable to move him. Normally she treated him like a punching bag and shoving him around would have been no problem but now she was just completely off her game.

"Sam! Guys! What's all the shouting about, I could hear you clear downstairs in the hallway. And why is, uh, Sam are you crying?" Gibby asked, grabbing the blonde by the shoulders and looking closely at her face which prevented her from leaving. He had never seen her cry before and he could hardly believe his eyes.

"Sam thinks Carly and I were making out. But we weren't. It was just a goodbye kiss." Freddie said, now nearly in tears himself. It hurt him like losing a limb to think he had hurt Sam. He knew the only thing preventing him from never seeing Sam again was the grip Gibby had on her. If she broke free, she would run like a wild pony and it's hard to tell how far she would go. All the while, Freddie was silently praying for Gibby to keep her grounded.

"That's what I was trying to say, it was just a goodbye kiss, he's like a brother to me." Carly said, now starting to cry herself, she hated the thoughts of coming between her two friends who were obviously made for each other. This was certainly not how she planned this to go down.

"I never saw you kiss Spencer like that." Sam snapped, between sobs, not looking at either of them.

"Ugh, Sam. I DON"T have romantic feelings for Freddie and he doesn't have those kind of feelings for me. We just talked about this right before you came . . . "

"Save it, you bitch! Let go of me Gibby!" Sam shreiked as she tried to pull away from Gibby's hold. "I just hate you both so much, I wish I had never met either of you. Gibby let me go or I swear I'll kick your ass into next week."

"Sam, _please!_" Freddie begged, now full-on crying himself.

"I swear it's not what you think, we're not . . . I actually like . . . Oh, what's the use. Gibby, go ahead and tell her." Carly sobbed.

"Tell me what." Sam asked, while Gibby was still preventing her from leaving though he was in great fear for his life.

"That Carls and I are together." Gibby said quietly. "We were going to keep it to ourselves. You know since it was going to be long distance and all, until we were sure it would work out."

"You mean, you and the shirtless potato here are . . . " Sam said, drying her eyes, looking toward Carly. "Ewww!"

"I'm right here." Gibby said, sounding hurt.

"Uh, yeah. Like Gibs said, we were going to keep it to ourselves, but you kind of forced it out. I couldn't have you thinking I was trying to move in on your guy." Carly said as Gibby left go of the blonde and put his arm around his new girlfriend, who was now standing by his side.

"An, and, y-you were re-really just kissing her goodbye." Sam said to Freddie, her sobs slowing.

"That's all, Sam. I was dead serious when I said I wanted to give us another try. And I guess you were too, as jealous as you got." Freddie said after drying his face, opening his arms to hug the blonde, who he had now moved closer to, despite what she still might do to him in her anger.

"I wasn't jealous, I was just mad at the thought of you two making out behind my back." Sam punched him in the chest.

"Sounds like the definition of jealousy to me." Gibby said.

"Zip it nub." Sam said while hugging Freddie. "I'm sorry Freddie, I should have known you aren't the kind of guy to mess around like that. And Carly, I'm sorry for what I said and I called you a . . ."

"I forgive you, Sam. After all, you thought I was making out with Freddie, you had every right to get jealous, er I mean mad." Carly said as she approached Sam for a hug. "Heck, I'd be upset if I saw you kiss Gibby."

"Yeah, like that'll happen. Maybe if I get mad cow disease from eating rare meat and my brain goes all soft." Sam replied with a smirk.

"I'm right here." Gibby said again.

"So how long has this been going on?" Freddie asked while the two couples were now facing each other.

"I'm guessing about 2 or 3 weeks." Sam said. Right about the time Carly broke up with Sean or Steve or whatever his name was and Gibby split up with what's her name."

"Tina." Gibby replied. "And it's hasn't been that long. It was last week when Carly thought her dad was going to miss the dance. I was here hanging out with Spencer and Socko called him to go on a road trip somewhere. Anyway, I didn't want to leave Carls alone, she was so upset. So the two of us, we sat around and watched TV and we talked about all kinds of stuff and wound up going out for smoothies."

"Afterwards it was getting late and he insisted on walking me home and somehow we just ended up kissing when we were out in the hall, so I guess it was kind of like our first date. We've been out twice together since then, we just kept it low key." Carly explained. "Gibby's been right under my nose all along, I don't know why I never saw how great of a guy he was. He's so gentle and caring and he's such a great listener."

"But he's Gibby!" Sam said with a curl of her nose like she had just smelled something bad. "Gaakk!"

"I'm right here!" Gibby said again.

"Well I'm happy for you guys." Freddie said. "Hey, what do you say to an impromptu double date to Groovy Smoothie, my treat. I have a twenty dollar bill in my wallet."

"Had." Sam replied quietly as the two couples headed downstairs, without him catching on.

Sam's hand found Freddie's and the two intertwined their fingers in the elevator, standing behind Carly and Gibby, who were also holding hands. Sam put her head on Freddie's shoulder. Neither said a word, but he knew right then and there that they were officially a couple again. If he had anything to say about it, they'd never be apart. Though she'd never admit it, Sam felt the same way.

**Let's just pretend that Sam never hopped on her motorcycle and headed for L.A. after Carly left, hmmm.** **I mean, I hate that Sam & Cat got cancelled, but what I really hate is that we never got to officially see Sam & Freddie get back together, except what was hinted at in the Tuna Jump episode so I guess that'll just have to do.**


End file.
